


Stardew Valley Fair Stories

by girljen



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-10-15 16:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girljen/pseuds/girljen
Summary: It's the week before the Stardew Valley Fair. Some of the Valley's residents have grange displays to think about, others are just looking forward to having fun. This is a series of glimpses into the Valley during one of the busiest weeks of the Fall and the day of the Fair itself.





	1. Marnie's Display

“Who needs shoes today?” Clint called out as he entered Marnie’s barn. 

“Frickard and Beckapoo!” Marnie called back.

“Where are you, anyway?”

“Milking Chungus, be right there!”

“Where does she get those names, anyway?” Clint asked himself. He set down his heavy work bag, letting the barn’s livestock wander around him. A small white goat tried to take a bite out of one of the bag’s cloth handles. “Hey! That’s not yours!”

The goat let out a bleat.

“Don’t talk back to me, kid.” Clint chuckled.

The goat stood up on its hind legs, wagged its tail, and head-butted Clint’s thigh, then bounced away. That got Clint laughing.

“I’m done. What’s so funny?” Marnie walked over, lugging a bucket full of milk.

Clint jerked his thumb over toward the little white goat, who was now bouncing around one of the cows. “That dork. He tried to take a bite out of my bag, then head-butted me in the leg.”

“Dang it! That’s Betch, she’s ridiculous. I have never seen a goat as hyper as her. I’ll put her and all the rest of the goats outside while you’re shoeing the horses.”

“Thanks, I’ll get started now.”

Marnie rounded up the goats by filling a wheelbarrow with cave carrots, then wheeling it outside. While she did that, Clint walked over to the horses. “Okay, ladies, who’s first?”

A brown horse took a step forward.

“I’ll call that a yes from Ms. Frickard!” He chuckled. “Come here, let’s get some new shoes on you.”

Marnie walked over and sat on the anvil. “So, how’s it going?”

“Not too bad, unless Frickard decides to jump around like she did last time.”

“I gave her a calming supplement before you came, she should be good.”

“We can only hope,” he said. “Are you planning out your grange display for the fair?”

“Yeah, but I’m not feeling too optimistic.” Marnie rolled her eyes. “Last year, I set out the best milk and eggs my animals could make! And I still only got third place.”

“That’s a bummer.”

“Milk just...doesn’t look good.” Marnie gestured over toward the jugs on the other side of the barn. “Yeah, I can fill a jug with delicious milk, but it doesn’t look as eye-catching as a box full of fresh veggies.”

“I hear ya,” Clint said. “I have a buddy who does blown glass work out in Grampleton. I might be able to get a couple jugs from him, if he has them ready, I know the fair’s only a week away…” 

“That might work. I want some way to advertise exactly how delicious this stuff is!”

“Why don’t you give out free samples?”

“Can we do that?” Marnie asked. “I should call Lewis and ask.”

“Nah. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Just start handing out little glasses of milk, bites of cheese, bits of scrambled egg…”

“No egg this time!” Marnie said proudly. “The poultry is all Shane from now on. He’s setting up his own grange display, and he’s even bringing one of his blue hens!”

“Good on him!”

For the next couple hours, while working on horseshoes, Clint and Marnie hatched a plan to set out samples of milk, cheese, goat milk, and goat cheese, along with swatches of cloth that passers-by could touch.

The bottom row of the grange display would be filled with ice, to keep the milk and the goat cheese cold and fresh. The milk would be poured directly from the grange display jugs, and there would be extras in a cooler. The cheese would first be cut from Marnie’s giant wheel of cheese. When a neat wedge had been cut from that wheel, Marnie would switch to using cheese from the cooler.

In order to entice more people to take the samples, Marnie would have Jas hand them out. And to gain her niece’s cooperation, she’d give Jas a gift at the end of the day.

“But what should it be?” Marnie asked.

“Cold hard cash,” Clint said with a laugh.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? But business has been slow lately.”

“Yeah, it’s been slow for me, too.” Clint said. “I mean, I don’t really mind...less work for me means less work for me, so it’s not entirely a bad thing. But I do like paying my bills.”

“Same here!” Marnie laughed. Seeing Clint holding a shoe on Beckapoo’s hoof, she handed him a hammer. “Maybe I could finally teach Jas how to ride. I mean, she’s been begging for it for a couple years now, and I could ask Jodi for some of Vincent’s old jeans…” Marnie continued, talking more to herself than anyone. “Frickard is too jumpy for a new rider and Beckapoo is way too big for Jas, she’s almost too big for me. Feckardo’s a literal pony, but kinda scaredy. But Wumbus is small and mellow…”

“Okay, Marnie.” Clint held back giggles. “Where on the entire planet do you get these weird names?! I’ve been shoeing your horses for years now and I’ve always been curious.”

“The Old Rancher’s Almanac,” she said. “For the most part, it’s good information about weather and farming and animals and homesteading. But at the back of the book, there’s an animal names section that’s just too funny to resist! So that’s where I get all my animal names.”

“Huh. I never knew that. Why would Jas need Vincent’s jeans?”

“She doesn’t need those jeans, exactly. But she doesn’t have a pair of jeans that fits her. Before I go out and buy something new, I’ll see if Vincent has something she can fit into, to save me the money and hassle of going to the city to buy a new pair.”

“Makes sense. You’ve been thinking ahead.”

“Thanks. For someone who’s not actually a mom, I’m sort of getting the hang of the mom thing.”

On the day of the Fair, Marnie’s grange display didn’t look nearly as impressive as Pierre’s or the farmer’s. Both were overflowing with fresh produce. Marnie’s, by contrast, was sparsely filled with milk jugs and cheese and cloth. Marnie anticipated this.

Jas stood by the grange display, smiling sweetly at everyone who walked by. “Hello! Would you like a free sample?” Her cute smile, pigtails, gingham dress, and matching bow were too much for most people to resist, so they gladly took samples of Marnie’s milk and cheese.

As Clint approached Marnie’s display, he saw that she’d put her plan into action. A wedge was cut out of the cheese, exposing a beautiful cross-section. The milk was on ice. The warm, soft cloth was draped over the edge of the display, inviting people to touch it.

“Mr. Clint!” Jas gave him a sweet smile. “Would you like a free sample?”

“Yes, please! What can I have?”

“We have fresh cow’s milk and goat’s milk,” she said, reciting the spiel from memory, “and fresh cheese and goat cheese. You can also touch this cloth to feel how soft it is!”

“Can I please have one of everything?”

“Yes you may,” Jas said, handing him two cups. “Except, not the cloth. That has to stay here. You could buy it from Marnie’s Ranch, though.”

“Thank you!” Clint drank both cups of milk, ate both little bits of cheese, and felt the surprisingly soft wool cloth. “You’re working hard today, Jas.”

“I know!” She beamed. About a second later, her face fell into an embarrassed cringe. “I mean, thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

“And guess what! Aunt Marnie’s finally gonna teach me how to ride a horse! I get to learn how to ride a cute horse called Wumbus and we’re doing a trail ride tomorrow!”

“Well, you have fun,” Clint said. “Thanks again for the samples.”

“You’re welcome again, bye!”

Clint left the booth and found Marnie, who was heading up toward the food. He jogged to catch up with her.

“Huh?” Marnie turned around. “Oh! Hey, Clint! How’s it going?”

“I just stopped by your booth and got some samples from Jas.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Well, you know how you said you’re sort of getting the hang of the mom thing?”

“Yeah…?”

“You’re doing a wonderful job. Jas was friendly and polite and well-behaved. And she’s excited to ride Wumbus tomorrow.”

“Oh, thank Yoba!” Marnie clasped her hands over her heart. “I’m getting a burger for each of us, and then I’ll let her go play games for a while. I’d been worried that she’d lose focus or slack off, especially without me there, but she seems to be doing really well!”

“She is! Don’t sell yourself short, you’re doing a great job with her.”

“Thanks. I still always feel like I’m playing catch-up, since I didn’t get her until she was three years old.” She took two burgers from the table by the grill. “I wasn’t expecting a child, didn’t know Jas all that well, and that first year was just awful! Just imagine Betch with a temper!”

Clint laughed. “No way!”

“I know now that it was hard because kids act out in response to trauma and big change, and that three year olds are just wired to be confrontational on top of that, but back then, I thought I’d made a terrible mistake agreeing to take custody of Jas.”

“You did not,” Clint said plainly. “She’s a wonderful little lady, and that’s due in no small part to her wonderful aunt.”


	2. Demetrius and Maru's Display

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maru and Demetrius get the idea to set up a grange display of their own, even as Robin struggles with hers.

“Yo Dad, what’s on the agenda today?” Maru walked into the lab, hair pulled up in a bandanna. “Don’t say water samples.” She giggled.

“No water samples.” He gave her a million-watt smile. “Instead, we’re checking those pumpkin embryos from the other day for diseases, and setting up a germination percentage test for these amaranth seeds.” He pointed to a bag of tiny seeds, each one no bigger than the head of a pin.

“So...you want me to use the suction board and get rows of amaranth set up in the germinator. Right?”

“Right! We’ll need four flats of seeds.”

“Man, I’m glad we only have to do this every once in a while! It’s tedious! I should have Mom make us some coffee.”

“You should…maybe make it yourself. Your mom’s really stressed out about her grange display for the fair.”

“Why?”

“She’s displaying things from the size of a ring box to the size of a picture window,” Demetrius explained, “And the logistics of transporting and then showing those items is not easy. She wants to make sure the small things get enough attention and the large things don’t get broken. Anyway, the long and short of it is that she doesn’t have time for our nonsense right now and we should probably be as self-sufficient as possible for the next few days.”

“Understandable!” Maru walked toward the kitchen, then turned back as she reached the lab door. “Hey Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t we set up our own grange display?”

“What would we put in it, honey? It’s kinda hard to display seed science…”

“How about the gibberellic acid method we use to germinate Ancient Seeds? I bet I could get an Ancient Fruit off the farmer.”

“Why don’t you display some of your gadgets?”

“Because they’re all either for personal use, like the hydraulic cabinet lift; or I can’t make them fast enough to keep up with all the orders, like the rechargeable electric warming jacket. What I really want to show off is my AI build, but it won’t be done for months! Besides, I think more people should see your work. So, let’s show off some of what we’re doing in the lab.”

“Well, I guess we could show what we’ve done so far with the fruit bat pollination study on the farm. The fact that they’re coming back with cherries in fall and pomegranates in winter shows just how far they’re going and how much genetic diversity they bring to the Valley’s flowers and trees.”

“Yeah, Dad, exactly! I’m gonna go make our coffee and keep brainstorming.”

The next few days were a flurry of activity. There were numbers to crunch, signs to make, and fruits to acquire. There were experiments to replicate. For the most part, Robin was tolerant of their project, until they tried to replicate their experiments on the flammability of the Valley’s native coniferous trees and shrubs.

“Okay, Dad. Pine Branch 1 is in the rack and the infrared camera is recording.”

“Thank you!” His voice was muffled from inside the large silver fire suit.

Maru heard an exasperated scream from the kitchen, followed by running feet. “Demetrius! No fire!” It was Robin, and she was absolutely furious. She stormed into the lab and shrieked again at the setup. “No tree, no camera, just get ALL of this nonsense outside!”

“Sorry, Mom--”

Robin interrupted. “I did not build this house from the ground up to have you two burn it down!”

“I thought you treated the wood with fire-resistant lacquer!” Demetrius said. “There’s no need to be unreasonable, honey…”

It was like a light switch had flipped. Robin took a deep breath. Her speech became calmer and quieter. “You’re right. There really is no need to do anything unreasonable…like lighting fires in the damn house!” Again, she screamed. “Get! It! Out!”

Five minutes later, Maru and Demetrius were outside, shivering in the cold autumn night. Once again, the tree was in the rack. The infrared camera was recording. The fire extinguishers were standing by. Demetrius, wearing the fire suit, stood closer to the tree than Maru, who was watching the camera feed on her smartphone. She was near the east edge of the house.

Maru spoke loudly. “Start the heat gun! Wood temperature is showing as 42 Kraggs, surrounding air at 13 Kraggs..”

“Heat gun starting!” The heat gun roared to life. 

Maru’s face lit up as she saw the infrared picture changing. “Wood is at 50 Kraggs! 60 Kraggs! 70! 80! 90! 100! One hundred and--”

“FIRE!” Demetrius stepped back and turned off the heat gun.

“Fire at 106 Kraggs! Current temperature 130!”

A gust of wind blew Maru’s hair forward. 

Demetrius let out a muffled swear. “Shut it down, fire has spread!” He grabbed the larger of the two fire extinguishers and ran right past the burning pine branch, over to the larger burning pine tree on the west end of the front yard. 

Maru grabbed the smaller of the two extinguishers, made quick work of the small branch, then ran to the tree. As her father’s fire extinguisher ran out, Maru took over. By the time she ran out of chemical fire retardant, Demetrius had returned. He had the garden hose. He sprayed down the entire tree, which had stopped flaming and smoking, but was still hot. 

“Check my work with the infrared, Maru!”

Maru left her extinguisher and grabbed the infrared camera. She looked straight at the screen on the back of the camera. “The center of the tree is still at 82 Kraggs.”

Demetrius kept spraying. When the temperature reached a relatively safe 75 Kraggs, he took off the hood of the fire suit. “Hey Maru, you don’t happen to know exactly when that wind gust happened, do you?”

“Right when the temperature of the wood hit 134 Kraggs, which I can find on the playback.”

“Good, I can match it with my anemometer data. That can give us the wind speed at which the fire spread.”

“Nice!” Maru said.

“Now, can you think of a way to replicate our unintentional wind speed experiment?” Demetrius asked.

“A fan.”

“A safe way that accounts for possible variables?”

“A fan in a calm place, far from anything flammable. Except the experimental materials, of course. The cave!” Maru looked over to the east. “Of course, we’ll need power for the equipment. A generator, maybe?”

“That could work.”

“Wait!” Maru’s face lit up. “I could use the power from the mine cart in there! I could disconnect the power from the mine cart drive chain and use it to power a fan!”

“Yes! If we get some good data points, we could display a message about how far apart to thin trees in order to prevent the spread of wildfires!”

Sebastian walked up the mountain path into the front yard. He stopped short upon seeing Demetrius in the fire suit. Maru waved him over.

“What’s going on…” he grumbled.

“We’re working on our grange display!” Maru said proudly. “We tried to replicate the flammability of coniferous plants experiment that Dad did a couple years ago!”

Sebastian looked at her, stone-faced.

“And it worked, same temperature and everything, ignition at 106 Kraggs, but then a wind gust spread the fire to the pine tree!”

“Why are you telling me this?” His eyes narrowed.

Maru reached in her pocket and pulled out some cash. “Mom is SO pissed off. She doesn’t know about the pine tree yet, either. So. Just take this, and if she asks, everything is normal out here. Okay?”

Sebastian turned on his heel. “In that case, I’m going to the Saloon! Can’t tell Mom anything if I’m shooting pool, right?”

“Thank you so much!”

“Maru!” Demetrius laughed. “You know bribery and deceit are morally wrong!”

“Yes I do,” she said. “But I also know how much you hate sleeping on the couch.”

“Good call. Let’s knock this pine tree down and stack it up by the wild man’s tent.”

“I’ll get the wheelbarrow.”

On the day of the Fair, Demetrius, Maru, and Sebastian helped Robin load the truck up with Robin’s grange display. The picture window was carefully wrapped and secured in the back of the pickup. The smaller pieces rode up front with Robin and Sebastian, and the larger pieces were split among the second row of seats and the back of the truck.

After dropping off Robin’s grange display, Sebastian drove the truck back to the house. He walked in and saw Maru and Demetrius packaging up their display. Without a word, he tossed the keys to Demetrius, then hurried downstairs before his stepdad could say anything.

“Way to offer to help,” Demetrius grumbled.

“I guess it’s just us. I hope our box is near Mom’s so she can help us back the truck in.”

“That would be nice,” he said. “By the way, did you ever tell her about us going in the cave and replicating that fire experiment?”

“Yep! I told her that we redid the flammability study, and that we were inspired to see how little wind was needed to spread a fire after one of our fires spread to the sample pile due to wind at the cave opening.”

“Well done!” Demetrius laughed. “I mean, I shouldn’t praise you for lying to your mother...”

“I’m an adult, Dad,” she said. She lifted a display box into the back seat of the truck. “I understand nuance and context and situational considerations.”

“Well…” his voice trailed off. “Good, I guess.”

They loaded the truck, drove down to the fair, and found their grange box. Just as they’d hoped, it was right next to Robin’s. As the fair got going, they both watched how Robin handled visitors to her display. 

“Hey nerd, what’s all this?” Alex was the first visitor to their grange display. 

Maru gave him the customer service smile, the same one she gave cranky patients at the clinic. “Practical applications for the biological research from our lab.” She pointed to a giant ancient fruit. “The seed used to grow this Ancient Fruit had been buried in rock since the time of the dinosaurs. By using a gibberellic acid incubation technique, outlined on that poster,” she said, pointing, “we’re now able to grow fruit from those seeds.”

“What does it taste like?” Alex asked.

Demetrius reached into his backpack and pulled out a sandwich bag full of diced Ancient Fruit. “Want some?”

“Well...what does it taste like?” he asked again.

“Kind of like a cross between apples and blueberries, only juicier, with kind of a stone fruit taste to it as well.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Alex said.

“It doesn’t,” Maru said, “But they taste good.” She took a chunk of fruit out of the sandwich bag and ate it. 

Alex did the same. “That’s...not bad!”

“It’s not!” Maru continued. “We also have the results of a fruit bat study, that shows how far they go to find food each night. And over here, we have a flammability study of the Valley’s coniferous plant life.”

“Okay, bye!” Alex wandered off, not willing to let Maru explain the rest of what they’d done.

Throughout the day, the display got dozens of visitors. Some were locals, others were tourists. It was rare that Maru would be able to explain all three experiments to whoever visited; each person only seemed interested in one experiment, two at the most. Some people were scared of the fruit bat poster. Others were mesmerized by the infrared video of the tree branch catching fire, then spreading to the next branch. Most people who were interested in the Ancient Fruit wanted to know how it tasted, so Maru was able to buy a second Ancient Fruit from the farmer to give out as free samples. She was also able to suggest that the farmer should stuff the greenhouse with Ancient Fruit plants, to satisfy everyone’s curiosity.


	3. Shane's Display

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane's display includes one of his flamboyant blue hens, and the results of all his work with the poultry. The day doesn't go according to plan for him, though.

“Hey, Shane! Got any chicken stories for me tonight?” Emily sat a beer on the bar in front of him.

“This morning, there was a giant mutant grub in the coop. Now, I give the chickens bug meat as treats every once in a while, but this is something completely different. Those mutant grubs are BIG.” Shane held his hand out. “One of those things would reach from my middle finger to my wrist,” he said, using his hand to indicate.

Emily cringed. “Woah!”

“So anyway, Charlie’s like ‘Oh, nice, fresh bug meat!’ so she takes off after this thing and bites it on the ass. And the bug’s all like ‘Nope, not today!’ and turns around and lunges at her! That gets Charlie clucking, which gets the rest of the chickens over there. Sapphire, the great big blue one, tries to take a bite out of the bug’s head. Bug bites her instead!”

“No!” Emily covered her mouth.

“The thing just got Sapphire’s beak, it dangled off of there for like a second, then fell and landed on its back. Sapphire stepped on it, and all the chickens attacked it!”

“Oh, Yoba! I feel sorry for the poor bug, but wow, that’s why you don’t attack something that evolved from the dinosaurs!” Emily let out a nervous laugh.

“I have a nicer story, too.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m setting up a grange display for the fair this year!” Shane beamed with pride. “Since I’ve taken over all the poultry care on the ranch, Aunt Marnie said I should set up my own poultry-specific grange display.”

“Nice! What are you putting in there?”

“The best chicken and duck eggs, of course! And a duck feather, I found a really good one in the coop the other day. I’m also going to bring a blue hen, it’ll be their big debut!”

“Congratulations! Are you bringing Sapphire?”

“No, she’s mean. I’ll bring Bluebell. She’s not as big and her color isn’t as deep blue, but I don’t have to worry about her pecking children’s eyes out or anything, either.”

Emily let out another horrified laugh. “Yeah, leave Sapphire at home! Why is she so aggressive, anyway?!”

“Her father and her mother both come from breeds that can produce blue coloring, but they’re also mean as hell. Getting mean as hell genes from both sides means she’s mean as hell, squared! She was my ‘prototype’ blue chicken...she’s absolutely beautiful, and I’ve bred her a few times, but I’m not using that combo of breeds again.”

“I did not know that meanness was passed down genetically,” Emily said. “I learned something new today!” She paused for a second. “Let me know when you want another round, I’m gonna grab some refills for Clint and Willy.”

“Alright, good luck.” Shane smirked.

Not ten seconds later, Shane heard the sound of breaking glass. He turned around. Clint had dropped his beer mug, shattering it on the ground. 

“Sorry!” Clint immediately dived to the ground, attempting to pick up the glass.

“Don’t worry about it!” Emily crouched down. “Seriously, I don’t want you to cut yourself.”

“I panicked. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Emily said. “I dropped a tray full of ‘em the other night. At least yours was only one and it was empty! I’ll grab a broom and dustpan.” 

As Emily rushed off, Clint hung his head. His cheeks were burning. He slowly stood. As he sat back in his seat, he realized there was a full beer there!

Emily came sashaying back with a broom and dustpan, carrying one beer for Willy. She went to work sweeping up glass.

“Thanks for the refill,” Willy said.

“Yeah, thanks. And sorry. Again,” Clint said.

“Poor guy,” Gus said, looking over at Clint.

“Yeah, man. He’s a disaster. He’s such a disaster that he makes me feel a little better about myself.” Shane took the last drink of his beer. 

“Hey Shane, you mentioned doing your own grange display...that’s cool!” Gus filled a glass with sparkling water and handed it to Shane. “What’s this about blue chickens, though?”

“Chickens can be blue,” Shane said plainly. “I’m breeding them. I’ve come up with the correct mix of breeds to produce good-natured blue chickens that put out big eggs. So I’m bringing one of them to the fair and setting her on my grange display.”

“What, like, in a cage? Or do they make leashes for chickens?”

“Bluebell is the friendliest chicken I’ve ever met,” Shane said. “I’ll just carry her. She’ll have a little nest set up in the grange display. Under the display, I’ll have a separate wooden box where she can eat and drink and potty, and she can hide out there if she gets overwhelmed, but I really doubt she will. She’d follow me around the house if she could, she loves people.”

“See, man…” Gus leaned down on the bar. “That’s the kind of stuff that should make you feel better about yourself. You’re doing good things with those chickens. There’s no need to be mean.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Yes, father.”

After he finished his water, Shane made his way home, and went right to the coop. Charlie, as always, ran to greet him. Bluebell was right behind her. And Sapphire was right behind Bluebell, lunging for her tail.

Shane reached down and scooped Bluebell up. “Stop it, Sapphire. You’re a damn chicken, not a dinosaur.” He carried Bluebell to the other side of the coop and set her down. “And you, Bluebell, are a wonderful little hen. You get to go with me to the fair tomorrow,” he said, his voice rising in pitch. “You get to meet all kinds of new friends!” He was baby-talking without shame. “You get to sit on your cute little nest and cluck at everyone! And they’ll pet you!”

Bluebell clucked happily and nuzzled up to Shane’s foot. He picked her up and kissed her on her little chicken head, which she didn’t seem to mind.

The next day, Shane walked to the town square. It was a long walk, pulling a giant garden wagon. Bluebell was in her box, which took up most of the wagon. The rest of the wagon, the back part, was filled with hay. Nestled in the hay, each individually wrapped in socks, were the eggs. There was a takeout box nestled in the hay as well; that box held the duck feathers.

He checked in with the Mayor, who said that Shane could have his pick of three different grange display spots. He chose one near the petting zoo, next to Willy, so that people wouldn’t confuse his display for part of Marnie’s. 

After setting up the eggs, displaying each one in an egg cup like a trophy, he arranged the hay into a little nest and framed it with the duck feathers. Finally, he reached into the box and grabbed Bluebell.

“Who’s a good chicken?” Shane asked. “Did you have fun on your little adventure? Wanna go in your nest?” He set Bluebell down in the nest. She jumped immediately back to Shane’s arms. “Okay, then. I guess you’re staying with me for now.”

The fair opened. Visitors to Shane’s grange display seemed impressed enough by the eggs and the duck feathers, but they were enamored with Bluebell the blue hen. She was just as enamored with them, and would gladly put her head down and fluff her feathers up, asking to be petted. 

“Oh, Yoba, he is just so cute!!” Haley squealed as soon as she saw the chicken on Shane’s lap.

“She. Her name is Bluebell.”

“Awww, even her name is cute! Can I pet her?”

Bluebell, over the course of the past few hours, had learned that “Can I pet her” meant she was going to get some head scritches. So, she stood, put her head down, and fluffed her feathers up.

“Looks like she’s saying yes,” Shane said.

Haley lapsed into unintelligible squeaks and baby talk. Bluebell ate it up, clucking happily and enjoying the attention. 

“Can I buy her?” Haley asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” Haley whined. “She’s so cute and she loves me…”

“She loves everyone,” Shane said. “She’s not for sale, though.”

“I’ll give you, like, 2000G for her!”

“Nope.”

“3000G!”

“Nope.”

“3500G and…”

“3500G,” Shane interrupted, “And proof that you’ve passed the Grampleton Ag University’s Chicken Husbandry course, and a coop, and a second hen or female chick for company. And then she’s yours.”

“Ugh!” Haley stomped her foot. “That’s gonna cost a fortune!”

“I just wanna make sure my baby’s well cared for,” Shane explained, “And that whoever buys her--if she’s ever for sale, which she’s not--takes her wellbeing seriously.”

“You don’t even take your wellbeing that seriously,” Haley said, popping her hand on her hip.

“This isn’t about me.”

Haley opened her mouth to speak. Before she could get a word out, she was interrupted by a squeal. The petting zoo was in chaos! A pig had escaped by uprooting the temporary fence that housed the petting zoo, and knocking one wall of that fence over. The squeal had come from a goat, which had leapfrogged over the pig’s back. It landed right in front of Shane, screamed again, then vaulted over him to the grange displays.

Bluebell clumsily flew away and dashed under a bush behind the Saloon. While Shane was trying to catch her, the goat was bouncing through his grange display and launching itself out the back. Every egg cup was knocked over. Every egg was destroyed. 

The farmer grabbed the goat out of midair, mumbled something about how Marnie should bring her own animals instead of letting these traveling carnies do the petting zoo, and tied the goat to a tree. They asked Willy and Clint for help setting the fence back up. The pig, and the petting zoo operator, were nowhere in sight.

Shane returned to his grange display with Bluebell clucking in his arms. He found Haley and Marnie cleaning up eggs and egg cups. Haley looked disgusted with the whole thing, grabbing egg cups with the tips of her fingernails and grimacing. Marnie, more used to animal messes, was wiping down the box with a wet cloth.

“Did that goat…” Shane’s face fell as he saw his destroyed grange display. “Son of a--”

“--Shane!” Marnie interrupted him. “It’s fine. Mayor Lewis already took a look at the displays, he’ll have the results later. So you’ll be judged on how your display looked at the start.”

“Buh! That’s not it! My hens worked so hard on those eggs! They could have been useful! Instead they were just decorations for a few hours until that goat destroyed them!”

“Would it make you feel better or worse to know that the goat ate one of those eggs?” Marnie asked.

Shane’s voice was measured and dark. “That damn goat had better be glad I’m holding a codependent chicken right now. I would love to throw that little jerk on the barbecue…”

“No!” Haley squealed. “It’s too cute! It’s just a little baby!”

Shane glared.

“You can’t kill it!”

“I know I can’t,” he said. “I’m holding Bluebell. Besides, unlike that stupid carny petting zoo guy, I know how to respect other people’s property.” He paused and looked around. “I’m taking my chicken and going home.”

“Don’t you want to find out your score?” Marnie asked.

“I might come back after I put Bluebell back in the coop. This petting zoo thing is a mess, I don’t want her getting hurt.”

Without another word, Shane loaded up his wagon and walked away.


	4. Clint's Display

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fair sneaks up on Clint. He manages to throw together a decent display, and part of it ends up being very helpful in a way he didn't expect.

“Oh, son of a gun!” 

It was 9:00 in the morning. Clint was still in bed, he’d forgotten to set his alarm. He ran to the bathroom, cleaned up as well as he could, threw on his clothes, and was able to unlock the door to the store by 9:10.

As he opened the door, something caught his eye. It was a letter. He opened it up, still trying to catch his breath from going through his entire morning routine in ten minutes.

“Just a reminder that the fair is tomorrow…” Clint quickly scanned the letter. “Oh, okay, so…” He looked at the date on the top. “FALL FIFTEEN?! Yoba’s ass! Crap, this is from yesterday! I gotta go!”

Clint ran around the shop, gathering items and cursing under his breath. Every once in a while, with his arms full of metal bars and tools and weapons, he’d run out to his truck and throw the items in the back.

At about 9:30, Clint rolled up to the fair, looking frazzled. He hauled his things out of the truck and set them up on the table he’d reserved for his grange display. There were bars of copper, iron, gold, and iridium. There was a golden axe, an omni geode broken open to reveal a deep red ruby, an iridium horseshoe, and a long coil of thin iridium chain. There was also a golden claymore, an iridium katana, an iridium knife, a steel falchion, and a heavy iridium-infused mace. Knowing the weapons would attract the most attention, he arranged those in the front.

“There you are! I didn’t think you’d make it!”

“Me neither.” Clint looked up to see Lewis, carrying a clipboard and a pencil. “How’s your day going, sir?”

“The day of the fair is always busy,” Lewis said. “I’m glad it only comes once a year. I mean,” he chuckled, “I’m glad it comes once a year, because I really do love it and the valley’s economy needs it...but I’m glad it doesn’t happen twice a year.”

“I get it,” Clint said. “Grading grange displays already?”

“I like to get it done early in the morning, when everyone’s products are fresh and at their best.”

“Makes sense. Do your thing, sir.” Clint stepped aside. He looked over his table at the fresh produce displays near the General Store. “Actually, while you’re doing that, I’m going to check out what’s going on over there.” He gestured toward the fresh produce.

“I highly recommend it!”

As Clint approached Marnie’s display, he saw that she’d put her plan into action. A wedge was cut out of the cheese, exposing a beautiful cross-section. The milk was on ice. The warm, soft cloth was draped over the edge of the display, inviting people to touch it.

“Mr. Clint!” Jas gave him a sweet smile. “Would you like a free sample?”

“Yes, please! What can I have?”

“We have fresh cow’s milk and goat’s milk,” she said, reciting the spiel from memory, “and fresh cheese and goat cheese. You can also touch this cloth to feel how soft it is!”

“Can I please have one of everything?”

“Yes you may,” Jas said, handing him two cups. “Except, not the cloth. That has to stay here. You could buy it from Marnie’s Ranch, though.”

“Thank you!” Clint drank both cups of milk, ate both little bits of cheese, and felt the surprisingly soft wool cloth. “You’re working hard today, Jas.”

“I know!” She beamed. About a second later, her face fell into an embarrassed cringe. “I mean, thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

“And guess what! Aunt Marnie’s finally gonna teach me how to ride a horse! I get to learn how to ride a cute horse called Wumbus and we’re doing a trail ride tomorrow!”

“Well, you have fun,” Clint said. “Thanks again for the samples.”

“You’re welcome again, bye!”

After a quick chat with Marnie and a Survival Burger, Clint wandered back down to his display. He saw Abigail, wide-eyed, holding the katana.

“Clint, did you make this?” She peered down the edge of the blade.

“Yes ma’am.”

“It’s so cool!”

“Thanks! I may complain about my job, but I really do take pride in my work.” Clint felt his cheeks get hot, and hoped that Abigail was too focused on the sword to see him blushing.

“I bet this does a ton of damage!”

“It’s sharp and it’s light,” Clint said. “It can slice through poplar wood easily, that’s about the same strength as bone, so it would do some major damage. It feels good to wield, too.”

“Oh, you’ve used it? I didn’t know you could use a sword, that’s awesome!”

“I’m not actually any good at it,” he said. “I only know enough to slice up wood and test what I’ve made.”

“Can I buy this?” Abigail asked.

“Sure. 25,000G.”

“What?! Why is it so expensive?”

“Because it was a pain in the ass to make! And the raw materials aren’t cheap. Do you know how many times I had to melt and fold and re-hammer this thing out? It took weeks!”

“Well…” Abigail set the iridium katana down and grabbed the steel falchion. “What about this one?”

“9000G. It’s not as powerful and it’s not as pretty, but it’s another light sword that can do some decent damage.”

“That’s something I could actually afford. I probably shouldn’t…” Her voice trailed off. She looked the sword over again. “I’d really love something stronger than the sword I have, though…”

“Maybe we could set up a layaway--”

There was a scream from the other side of the town square. The petting zoo fence was down, and animals were escaping everywhere! Abigail set the sword back on the grange display and ran over to watch the pandemonium.

The farmer ran away from the petting zoo, toward the grange displays in the south part of the town square. They reached over Clint’s weapons and metal bars.

“Yoink!” The farmer grabbed the iridium chain.

“Hey! You can’t take that!”

“I’ll give it back soon!” With that, the farmer sprinted toward the general store. Clint jogged behind them. He had intended to ask exactly what the heck was going on, but he saw for himself soon enough.

A loose goat was jumping around inside Shane’s grange display. The farmer grabbed the goat out of midair and carried it back to the petting zoo. The goat screamed and flailed its hooves, but the farmer held firm. They used the iridium chain to tie the goat to a tree.

“Hey Clint, will you please help me get this fence back up? Once I get these animals contained, and hopefully offsite, I can give you the chain back.”

“Sure! But my back’s not what it used to be.” He tapped Willy on the shoulder and pointed to the fence. “Hey Willy, will you help us out with this fence?”

Willy sighed. “Where’s the kid who’s supposed to be watching this thing, anyway?”

“No idea.” The farmer’s voice was abrupt and sharp. “When you’re dealing with live animals, especially in a setting as unpredictable as a fair, they need constant supervision! This is why we shouldn’t have these carnies do the petting zoo, it’s just a terrible idea.” They crouched down and grabbed the fence. Willy and Clint did the same.

“Lift on three?” Clint asked.

The farmer and Willy nodded.

“One! Two! Three!” All three of them lifted. In reality, it would have only taken two at the most. The fence was light and flimsy, which sent the farmer on another tirade about animal neglect. 

That evening, right as Clint had changed back into his pajamas, there was a knock on the door.

“We’re closed!” He yelled.

Through the thick wooden door, he heard, “It’s Marnie!”

Clint pulled on a long blue bathrobe and answered the door.

“Hi Marnie! What’s going on?”

Marnie held out the iridium chain. “Ta-daaah!” 

“Thanks!”

“The farmer wanted me to return this to you, and sent along a six-pack of Stardew Valley Pale Ale as a thank you.”

“This is a fun gift! Tell them thanks!” He took both the chain and the six-pack and set them on the counter. “Why’d they send you, anyway? I mean, it’s good to see you, but why’d they send you on an errand that they could do just as easily?”

A dark, vindictive smile spread across Marnie’s face. “The farmer and Shane are teaming up to press charges against that petting zoo operator. They went to Zuzu City to file a report with the Ferngill Humane Society!”

“Why?”

Marnie sighed. “Not only did the petting zoo operator leave the petting zoo unattended, and not only did he smell like alcohol when he finally got back, a few of his animals ended up following Shane home. The pig followed him, trying to eat the hay out of the wagon, and the alpaca ended up at our place, too. That poor pig had scars on her back and ribs showing!” 

Clint cringed.

“The alpaca looked thin, too, and its poor toenails were so overgrown. And did you know there was no water at the petting zoo? There may have been at one point, but the one bucket they had was filled with dust. I have no idea whether it was supposed to have food or water inside.”

“Oh, Yoba. That’s just terrible. It was so hot out today, too!”

“Yeah! So Shane brought out some food and water, called the farmer, they took pictures of the zoo and the animals, and now they’re talking to FHS.”

“Where are the animals?”

Marnie laughed. “My place! The petting zoo guy loaded them up into his trailer and drove off. While he was doing that, Lewis called the sheriff, who sent a deputy, who pulled the guy over. The guy’s truck got towed, so I said I’d take the trailer full of animals and care for them until FHS showed up. The deputy hooked up the trailer and took it to the ranch.”

“Wow. That sounds like one hell of a mess.”

“Oh, it is. But now the goat has someone to play with, and everyone has enough food and water, and things are moving right along.”


	5. Penny, Jas, and Vincent's Display

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vincent asks if him, Jas, and Penny can put together a grange display for the fair. It's never been done before, but Penny sees it as a learning opportunity. The kids write proposals to the Mayor and decide what to put in the display. It gets more attention than Penny was expecting.

“Vincent and Jas, your time is up! Please put your pencils down and prepare to read your journals. Who’s going first?”

Neither kid raised their hand. Jas gave Vincent a sideways glance and a frown. 

“Since neither of you are volunteering, I’ll choose. Jas has gone first for the past three weeks, so it’s your turn, Vincent.”

Vincent cringed. “Okay, Miss Penny…” He looked down at his paper. “On Sunday, my mom taught me to make Cranberry Candy and it was good. But I spilled the sugar and made a mess, so I had to clean it up. Yesterday, it rained, so I stayed home all day. Sam let me play his video games.”

“Very good, Vincent! Your turn, Jas.”

Jas gave Penny a smug smile and looked at her paper. “I spent the weekend helping Aunt Marnie with her grange display for the fair. I learned about how Aunt Marnie cares for our animals. She cares for them humanely, which is a fancy way of saying kindly. I also learned about how cheese is made. I will be giving out free samples at the fair.”

“Miss Penny!” Vincent yelled.

“Yes, Vincent?” Penny answered quietly.

“Can we do a grange display, too?”

Penny smiled. “You know...I’d never thought of that! But it would be a good way to showcase what we’ve done this school year. We can start by writing a proposal to the Mayor, telling him why we should get a grange display.”

“I want to put my book in there!” Jas said.

“Good idea!” Penny said. “We’ll put your books, and you can each put two more assignments that you’re proud of in there. And we’ll still have room leftover for art projects.” Penny drew the 3x3 grid of the typical grange display on a sheet of paper. “If you each put a book,” she said, drawing little books in two of the squares, “and you each put two more projects, there will be three spaces left over for art.”

“Ooh!” Vincent yelled again. “I wanna put two art projects in!”

“That’s not fair!” Jas yelled right back. “I also wanna put two art projects in!”

“I’m better at drawing, so I should get to put two!” Vincent yelled.

“Kids! Stop and listen,” Penny said.

“Well I have more Star Points! So I should get to put two art projects!” Jas slammed her hands down on the table.

Penny grabbed each child’s hand. She spoke quietly, but her frustration was palpable. “Vincent and Jas, if you two do not keep it down, neither of you will get to choose what goes in the display and I will talk to your mom and your aunt after school. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Now, then. You both seem frustrated. I hear you both saying you want two pieces of art in the grange display, and there are only three spaces available. How can we solve this problem?”

Both kids were silent.

Penny stayed silent as well, giving each child an expectant look.

“Well…” Jas said hesitantly, “We could each do a small art project, like a bookmark or something, so two projects could fit in one space.”

“Good thinking, Jas. Can you come up with a different idea, Vincent?”

“Um...maybe we could work together on a project?”

“Both of those are good ideas! Now, which one sounds like the most fun?”

The kids started brainstorming, in library-appropriate voices. Vincent entertained the idea of separate small projects, and Jas thought about how to work together on a piece of art. At first, they were just throwing out ideas: Bookmarks, clay pots, collages, picture frames, and so on. 

“Wait!” Vincent’s face lit up. “Miss Penny, can we use photos and drawings together in a collage?”

“We can, because they can be made out of anything!” Jas answered.

“She’s right,” Penny said.

“Jas, didn’t you take a photo of a baby cow for our camera scavenger hunt?”

“Yeah! Her name is Pronono. She’s grown up now.”

“If you bring that in, and, like, cut around the cow to get rid of the background, I could draw a background!”

“Like, a farm?”

Vincent cackled. “No! Like a bunch of little guys climbing on her because she’s giant!”

Jas giggled. “Okay, but no army guys killing her!”

Vincent laughed again. “I could make builders! And they could be building her!”

Vincent and Jas collapsed into hysterical laughter.

“That sounds awesome!” Penny was giggling, too. “Jas, please bring that picture of Pronono tomorrow, and we’ll work on the collage during art time. For now, we need to write a letter to the Mayor so we can make this grange display happen!”

Jas took out a piece of notebook paper. 

“Vincent, you’ll need a piece of paper as well,” Penny said.

“Yes ma’am.”

Penny explained. “In order to have a grange display, we’ll need to write a proposal. To propose something means to suggest an idea. So, we’ll need to suggest to the mayor that we should have a grange display, and we’ll need to persuade him as to why. What I’d like each of you to do is write a letter to the mayor, suggesting a grange display for our school, and telling him why that is a good idea. I will also write a proposal, outlining how the display will look.”

“What’s our school called, anyway?” Vincent asked. “I didn’t think we had a school, just the library.”

“It’s a little tiny school,” Penny said. “We don’t have a building, but we have a teacher and students and we follow the Ferngill Republic official curriculum. So, we’re a school. We don’t exactly have a name, though.”

“How about Ms. Penny, Jas, and Vincent’s school?” Vincent asked.

“No, let’s make it sound more important!” Jas said. “How about...Pelican Town Library School.”

“I like the sound of that, Jas. It sounds very formal.”

“Thank you!”

Vincent and Jas got to work. Jas wrote a long letter, telling Mayor Lewis that her, Vincent, and Penny had worked hard all school year and would like to show off their efforts. She mentioned that the residents of Pelican Town would want to know where their taxes, which she’d learned about in Social Studies class, were going.

Vincent’s letter was much shorter. However, he included a sketch of the art project that him and Jas would be making together. His main selling point was that the picture of the giant baby cow would be funny.

Their proposals were accepted. Mayor Lewis wrote each child an acceptance letter, and sent Penny information about where and how to set up her display.

On the day of the fair, Penny and Vincent stood by their grange display. Jodi and Kent were the first visitors, eager to see what their son had been up to at school.

“Hi, Mom and Dad!” Vincent ran to meet them. He took each of their hands, and dragged them over to the display. “This is our grange display! Look at the picture that me and Jas made!” He pointed to the cow. “This is Ms. Marnie’s cow, but she’s grown up now, and I drew these little builders so it looks like the cow is giant!” He cackled with glee.

Kent looked at the picture and started laughing. “I don’t know where you come up with these ideas!”

“My brain is funny!” Vincent pointed to one of the builders on the ground, explaining how he’s using a chainsaw to cut down a tree and make the calf’s horns bigger.

Jodi pulled Penny aside. “Ms. Penny, how is Vincent doing in school since his last report card?”

“Quite a bit better! He mentioned finding his dad’s old superhero comics a few weeks ago…”

“Yes, he did.” Jodi sighed. “And now there’s no hope of me getting him to read anything else.”

“The best books for Vincent to be reading right now are the books that he’ll actually read,” Penny said. “Besides, comic books are meant for older kids and teenagers, so they use vocabulary that’s above Vincent’s level. That will help him practice using context to figure out unfamiliar words, and looking up the ones he really can’t figure out. He told me you two cooked cranberry candy the other day, too.”

“We did! He really seems to like cooking, we’re actually planning on making pizza for dinner tomorrow night.”

“That’s fantastic news! Please, keep cooking with him. Not only does it drive home the importance of math, it gives him the chance to accomplish something. Vincent tends to feel a little insecure sometimes because Jas is more advanced academically, so giving him projects to complete and praising his effort go so far toward building his confidence! You’re doing a great job, Mom.”

“Thank you,” Jodi said. She felt her cheeks getting hot. “It’s hard.”

“It really is,” Penny said. “You have a creative, exuberant, active, spirited little guy and you’re doing a wonderful job.”

“Thank you. Again.” Jodi turned to Vincent, partly to see his book and his math work, and partly to hide the fact that her eyes were welling up with tears.

The grange display got more attention than Penny was expecting. She had everything from villagers saying “I didn’t know we had a school!” to a tourist teacher praising her for coming up with the book project. Penny heard some commotion going on late in the afternoon, apparently an animal had broken out of the petting zoo. Vincent stayed by her side the whole time, showing off the giant cow picture and explaining the school work to anyone who would listen. 

Finally, the sun went down. Penny and Vincent packed up the papers and books.

“Miss Penny?” Vincent grabbed the giant cow picture. “Can I keep this?”

“Well, since you and Jas both made this together, and because it’s honestly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, I’d love to hang it up in the library!”

“That would be even better!” Vincent handed the drawing to Penny. “Are you gonna put it in the library now?”

“No, the library is closed and I don’t have a key. I’ll take all of this home, and bring it back tomorrow.”

Penny walked Vincent home. As she walked back through the town square, she saw trucks hauling off the empty grange display tables. Tents were laying flat on the ground. The strong man was packing up his hammer game. 

As soon as she saw Lewis, he made a beeline for her. “Penny!”

“Hello, Mayor.”

“You never came and talked to me about your score.”

“I was busy! There were people at the display all day.”

“Well, I have your score.”

“How’d we do?”

“Very well! You got fourteen points.”

Penny let out a nervous giggle. “That...doesn’t sound like we did very well.”

“In the typical scoring of the grange display, you’re right. You got the lowest score. But what you’re doing is different, and in many ways, better than, the products in a normal grange display.”

“Thank you.”

“So, rather than give you Star Tokens, I’ve made an executive decision. I’d like to offer you a scholarship to college, to get a teaching degree so the Pelican Town Library School can become an accredited primary school.”

“What?!” Penny jumped back and covered her mouth. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor! That’s great! But how will I do that while I’m still teaching? The kids need me!”

“Zuzu University has some online programs, and you can go to class in the summer. You could also take your prerequisites online at the community college. You figure out what to do,” he said, handing her a typed letter on official letterhead, “and Pelican Town will pay for it.”

Penny sobbed. “Thank you! I’m sorry, I’m a mess,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I do my best with the official curriculum, but I’ll feel so much better after I get a degree and a teaching certificate.” She sniffled. “I just want Jas and Vincent, and any other kids that come along, to have the best education possible...and with a real teacher who’s been taught how to teach, they’ll do so much better!”


	6. Willy's Display

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In his quest for awesome and high-priced fish, Willy tries to catch a lobster. Instead, he gets a new friend.

“If you’re lucky, you might see a frog in this weather.” Sebastian gestured to the river as it roared under the bridge. 

“Wouldn’t be lucky for the frog,” Willy answered. “I always worry that I’m gonna hook one when I fish up here.” 

“Yeah, good point. Luckily, most of the frogs around here don’t usually eat fish.” 

“I use bug meat as bait, though!”

“Yeah, but the frogs don’t think to go underwater for food.” Sebastian took a drag off his cigarette. Both men were getting poured on. Willy had an umbrella and Sebastian’s hood was up, but they were still getting soaked. Neither seemed to mind. “They’ll probably leave your bait alone,” Sebastian said.

“That’s good, because--HEY!” Willy got a bite. He yanked back on the rod to set the hook, then started reeling the fish in. “Got ‘em!” He took a step back, still reeling. “No I don’t. Yes I do!” 

The pole bent so far down that Sebastian was sure it would snap. Willy was tugging on the pole, reeling, and cussing up a pollution. After one particularly hard tug, Willy took a step forward and yelled. His pipe fell out of his mouth, into the water. The splash must have stunned the fish, because Willy was able to step back and lift it out of the water.

“NET!” Willy called. Sebastian grabbed the net and held it out for Willy. 

The fish on the other end of the line was flopping around like crazy. It almost looked like it had a light on its head! It couldn’t have been more than two feet long, but it was giving Willy a hard time.

“No, grab the son of a gun!” Willy yelled.

Sebastian scooped the fish up in the net. Together, the guys lifted the fish out of the water and put it down on the bridge. Willy wrapped the fish in the net to keep it contained.

“What the…?” Sebastian took a closer look. “It looks like a bulldog with a headlamp! I’d be mad if I looked like that, too!”

Willy cackled. “It’s an Angler! It uses the little light on top of its head to attract prey. They’re pretty rare around here, I’m actually surprised I found one. They’re feisty, too!”

“Do they taste good?”

“They’re not bad, actually, kinda remind me of bass, only softer.”

“Are you cooking this one up?”

“Nope.” Willy threw the fish in a cooler full of dry ice. “This one’s going in my grange display for the fair.”

“Oh, right, that is coming up.” After one last drag, Sebastian put out his cigarette. “Thanks again for the light, man.”

“Thanks for your help with the fish!”

The next day, Willy proudly displayed the Angler on ice in his freezer display counter. He was thrilled when Elliott came in, partly because he’d make some money, but mostly to show off his fish.

“Elliott! How are you, can I help you?”

“Good afternoon, Willy. I’m well. I have a long day of writing ahead of me, and am looking for some breakfast to fry up. What’s good today?”

Willy giggled. “Why don’t you check out the display case?”

“I could do that,” Elliott said, slowly kneeling. “I’m looking for something that I can sear over high heat, then--” His eyes caught the dead eyes and horrid face of the Angler. He recoiled in horror, which threw him off balance and landed him on his backside. “--WHAT in all of Yoba’s Creation is that!?”

“It’s an Angler!” Willy said proudly. “You can only find ‘em in one teeny tiny spot in the river, and even then, you gotta be lucky. And they’re hard to catch, too! I’m putting this one in my grange display for the Stardew Valley Fair!”

“That’s absolutely terrifying! I have half a mind to make that thing a villain in my science fiction novel!” Elliott laughed nervously. “Right now, Sergeant Vu and Trooper Miller are in an escape shuttle together, desperately trying to hit the surface of the beleaguered Planet Yazzo. Of course they can’t make it yet, I’m only on Chapter Nine, and besides, I need to show more of Sergeant Vu’s character. I need to show her bravery, her grace, and her determination...so why not plop her down on a moon full of those horrid things? I could make them giant! I could make one of them snap Trooper Miller up in its jaws, so Sergeant Vu would have to rescue him!”

Elliott jumped up, threw his little notebook down on the counter, and started scribbling. “I can’t wait to go home and get this down on paper!”

“Trout Soup, then?” Willy laughed jovially.

“Yes, please!”

Willy spent the rest of the day directing his customers’ attention to the display case. Some, like Elliott, were frightened. Some, like the farmer, were intrigued. And Vincent, who had come in with his mom after school, thought it was “the coolest thing ever.”

That night, before his usual stop at the saloon, Willy fished off the dock for a while. He pulled up enough red snapper for the next day’s customers, some anchovies, an albacore, and a couple dinky sea cucumbers. He set out his crab pots, hoping for a crab or a lobster for the grange display.

“Handling salty fish all day makes me real thirsty.” Willy sat down at his usual seat, next to Clint, and sipped his beer.

“How’d you do today?” Clint asked. “Got any fish stories?”

“Today was nothin’ special. But yesterday, I pulled up an Angler! And I have my crab pots out tonight...if I’m lucky, I’ll get a lobster for the grange display.”

“Oh, yeah, that is coming up soon. Are you trying to win?”

“I never win,” Willy said. “My scores are always middle of the road. I just want to get people into my store!”

“Me too. And if they buy something from me at the fair, even better.”

“Need a refill, Clint?” Emily walked up, carrying a beer.

“Um. Yes! Please.” He lifted his glass, trying to hand it to Emily. To his horror, it slipped from his hand and crashed on the tile floor.

“Sorry!” Clint immediately dived to the ground, attempting to pick up the glass.

“Don’t worry about it!” Emily crouched down. “Seriously, I don’t want you to cut yourself.”

“I panicked. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Emily said. “I dropped a tray full of ‘em the other night. At least yours was only one and it was empty! I’ll grab a broom and dustpan.” 

As Emily rushed off, Clint hung his head. His cheeks were burning. He slowly stood. As he sat back in his seat, he realized there was a full beer there!

Emily came sashaying back with a broom and dustpan, carrying one beer for Willy. She went to work sweeping up glass.

“Thanks for the refill,” Willy said.

“Yeah, thanks. And sorry. Again,” Clint said.

“Just drink your beer, mate,” Willy said. 

After that round, Willy made his way back to the fish shop. 

He glanced down at his crab pots. They still looked empty; two of them were shaking with the waves. Willy shrugged, turned to the door, and reached in his pocket for his keys.

As soon as he retrieved them, he felt a splat against the back of his head. 

“What the hell?!” He reached up to find a glob of seaweed. It was dripping down his neck. He turned around to throw it into the ocean.

He was met by frantic, angry yelling that he couldn’t understand. He looked down by the crab pots and saw a green creature with a round head and glassy yellow eyes, yelling and gesturing toward the crab pots.

“Are you alright?” Willy knelt down and inspected the crab pots.

The creature screamed and hissed. It tried to swim away. Each stroke pulled on the crab pots, but the creature didn’t go anywhere.

“Are ya stuck?” Willy reached his hand down between the pots. He felt netting wrapped around a rough, scaly appendage. The creature slapped his arm.

“Well I can’t untangle ya if ya don’t let me!”

The creature kept yelling and gesturing toward the crab pots.

Willy had an idea. He stuck his arm through the top netting of a crab pot. He struggled against it, then pointed at the creature.

The creature pointed at Willy’s arm, then at itself.

Willy grabbed a knife and cut away the ropes holding his arm in place.

The creature pointed at Willy’s knife, then at itself.

“Alright, but no slappin’ me this time.” Willy reached down for the crab pots with one hand, holding the knife with the other.

The creature slapped the arm holding the knife, then wrenched the knife out of Willy’s hand. With that, it disappeared underwater.

“HEY!” Willy hit the deck and yelled into the water. “My ol’ pappy gave me that knife! Give it back!”

One crab pot disappeared underwater.

Then another.

Then the last crab pot sunk.

“That son of a…” Willy stomped inside and slammed the door. He changed into his long johns, brushed his teeth, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and headed toward his loft. 

When he got behind the counter, he heard three loud crashes against the door, followed by more unintelligible yelling.

“Oh, look at that, it’s my buddy again,” Willy said sardonically. He opened the door. In front of the door, his three crab pots lay in shambles. 

Off to the side, he saw a blobfish, a lobster, a diamond, and his knife. “Huh?”

As he bent down to pick up the fish, he saw something etched into the deck. It was a series of drawings, made with his knife. It showed the creature, tangled up in crab pots; then it showed Willy handing over the knife; it then showed three crab pots crossed out and angry faces around them. Finally, there was a picture of the creature putting the blobfish, lobster, and diamond on the deck.

“Whaddaya know…” Willy picked up his treasures and headed inside.

The next day, he didn’t open the store. Instead, he went to Leah’s cottage. She opened the door in her pajamas, hair piled up in a messy bun at the back of her head, brushing her teeth. Upon seeing Willy, she ran back to the sink and spat out her toothpaste.

“Sorry! I thought you were Elliott!” She grabbed a bathrobe. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Sorry to scare you,” Willy said. “I was hopin’ you could paint something for me.”

“An art commission?”

“Sorta...see, I need a couple signs.”

“Alright,” Leah said. “Come on in.” She showed Willy to the desk, then set down a piece of paper and a pencil. “While I change, why don’t you sketch out what you’d like? It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even good; I just need to know what words and pictures you’d like on the sign and where they need to go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Willy took the pencil and paper and got right to work. He drew a crude interpretation of a crab pot, crossed out with a circle and a line labeled “NO!” Under that, he wrote “Do not hang crab pots from the dock.”

He drew a second crab pot with a NO sign. By that point, Leah had come back out.

“No crab pots, huh?” Leah asked.

“Right. And I want this one, the one with no words, to be painted with paint that won’t hurt the fish.”

“You’re putting it close to the water?”

“Underwater, ma’am.”

“Okay. I can burn it into the wood. I’ll use a light-colored wood for better contrast. Why are you putting the sign underwater, anyway?”

Willy sighed. “Last night, someone got caught in my crab pots. I ain’t sure if it was a sea monster or a mermaid, all I know is they were mad as hell! Yellin’ at me in a language I don’t know, smackin’ me when I tried to get close...when I finally gave ‘em my knife, they got free, destroyed my crab pots, put the knife back on the dock, and gave me some goodies as a thank-you. So, I’m just gonna tell people not to drop their crab pots off the dock. And I’m gonna hang a sign underwater so that thing knows it’s safe to swim around here.”

“That is...oddly sweet.” Leah smiled. “I’ll help you out.” She pulled out a square canvas, about half as big as the desk. “I can make a sign about this big, finished with a weather-resistant clear coat, for above the water. I can make one about the same size for under the water; that would be a wooden sign and I’d burn the drawing in. I wish I could give this to you for free, but I have to at least cover the cost of the materials. How does 100G sound?”

“That sounds wonderful, ma’am.”

On the day of the fair, Willy set up his grange display. It was filled with the rarest and oddest fish the ocean has to offer, from the deep-sea blobfish and midnight squid to the legendary Crimsonfish. The Angler, of course, was given a prominent position. And in front of the display, there were dozens of brochures labeled “Responsible Crabbing,” telling visitors how to set crab pots on the beach and in the tide pools.

Despite a snafu with the petting zoo, Willy was able to hand out most of the brochures, and he was able to save most of the fish. An escaped goat had trampled the midnight squid and the spook fish, but Willy’s display had fared much better than Shane’s. 

After helping Clint and the farmer set the fence back up, Willy packed up his remaining fish. As he was arranging them in the display case, he heard a single knock on his door.

He opened the door and saw a piece of driftwood on the dock. The green sea creature reached a fist up. Willy knelt down. “Now don’t get all slappy on me…”

The creature turned and opened its hand. There was a pearl inside! The creature slowly moved its hand, and the pearl, toward Willy.

“This is great! If only me ol’ Pappy was around! He’d go nuts for this.” Willy delicately took the pearl. “Thanks, mate.”

The creature swam backwards until it could get a good look at Willy. It narrowed its glassy eyes, smiled, and spoke. “Fwooo-anks.” It grumbled. “Fanks. Fanksmet?”

“You tryin’ to say thanks mate?”

The creature pointed at Willy. “Fanks met!” With that, it dived under the water. 

Willy rarely saw the creature from then on. Every once in a while, he’d be woken up by a piece of driftwood or a rudely placed crab pot slamming against his door. He’d find little gifts of fish and treasure stacked up on the dock. In return, he’d leave river fish on the dock at night, which would always be gone by morning.


End file.
